Sandbox / Clueless Aesop Wick Check

• Describes the aesop, explains why it's "clueless", and why it's the result of self-bowdlerization or the nature of the work itself: (1/50) (2%)
• Describes the aesop, explains why it's "clueless", but pins the flaws on poor writing: (2/50) (4%)
• Describes the aesop and a relevant problem, but doesn't elaborate on the direct connection between the two: (3/50) (6%)
• Describes a problem, but doesn't sufficiently explain the intended aesop: (10/50) (20%)
• Out-of-narrative and meta complaints: (5/50) (10%)
• Justifying edits to discuss why it's not "clueless": (2/50) (4%)
• Narratively intentional (including In-universe discussion or spoofs): (4/50) (8%)
• ZCE (derisive complaining of an aesop devoid of further context): (14/50) (28%)
• ZCE (other aesops): (4/50) (8%)
• Unclassified Misuse/Other: (5/50) (10%)

Describes the aesop, explains why it's "clueless", and why it's the result of self-bowdlerization or the nature of the work itself (1/50)

• Doctor Who S17 E4 "Nightmare of Eden": This is a Drugs Are Bad story about intergalactic drug smugglers. It started out quite reasonable and relevant (and in a show that had been and later continued to be quite good at dealing with serious political issues in an allegorical format) but all three series lead actors, especially Lalla Ward, were concerned that the script might glamourise drug use to young viewers. The Fantastic Drug was renamed from the vaguely fun-sounding 'zip' to the nonsensical 'vrax', and everything about why anyone might want to take the drug was removed, with the result of turning vrax into something instantly addictive and invariably fatal that doesn't even make you very high.

Describes the aesop, explains why it's "clueless", but pins the flaws on poor writing (2/50)

• Animation.The Toy Warrior: The movie opens by stating that Jinoo has no friends because of the childish way he thinks of toys, and that he saved the day by simply being himself instead of wanting to be the Toy Warrior. The problem of not having friends is simply abandoned when the toys turned out to be magically alive and became real friends, even though he doesn't have healthy relationships in the real world; and the fact that he is himself doesn't really have much weight in the story beyond letting go of his fanaticism for the Toy Warrior. That very last tidbit seems like it needs more context to not sound like editorializing, but overall it gets the intended point across.
• Comic Book.Civil War (2006): The storyline featured the superheroes favoring registration fighting the superheroes opposing it. Apparently, the two sides were supposed to be presented evenly with Mark Millar string we're ultimately supposed to side with the Pro-reg side. But due to the clear Aesops of the last century saying that secret identities are good and government oversight of superheroes is evil, so many writers disagreed the Pro-regs were oft depicted as a bunch of borderline fascists who mind-control or threaten heroes and villains into working for them and casually toss people into the Negative Zone for refusing to register. Some tie-in writers depicted the anti-regs as borderline terrorists who were putting everyone at risk while others portrayed them as being the heroes standing against a Well-Intentioned Extremist tyranny. The one agreed on part is that the story couldn't seem to decide which side it was rooting for. This entry gets a bit too focused the behind-the-scenes conflict, but overall gets the point across that the morals of the story are very inconsistently handled.

Describes the aesop and a relevant problem, but doesn't elaborate on the direct connection between the two (3/50)

• Avatar The Last Airbender.Tropes A-H: Through Toph, the show tries to present the Aesop that you shouldn't treat people as completely helpless just because they're disabled, as they may have other talents to compensate for their shortcomings. Of course, Toph's seismic sense are so overpowered that it basically makes up for her being blind most of the time, making it difficult to actually consider her "disabled" in the first place. This seems subjective based on whether or not it is "overpowered". If it otherwise proves to just be a talent to deal with her disability (which, this entry doesn't deny that Toph is in fact blind), it should align with how the moral is set up according to the rest of this text. If there is context to explain her accommodation putting her beyond merely compensating for her shortcomings into "overpowered" territory, it's not in this entry.
• Fanfic.Showa & Vampire: A lot of times the story has your standard action anime moments where the heroes affirm their will to fight even when the odds seem unbeatable, or to do whatever it takes to protect their friends. This assumes Showa x Vampire is your typical shonen anime or toku hero series where they go on adventures and otherwise actively fight powerful evil that could destroy large parts of the world. That simply isn't the case, though: the only time the riders and their friends fight villains is if that villain comes to their school specifically to attack them. Late in the story's run it seriously became a Once per Episode thing for one of the heroes to ask why GIN-SHOCKER couldn't just go away and let them go to school like regular kids, and when they're finally spurred to action it's to save the kidnapped Shinichi and Yuji. The story ended before we could get any real sense that might finally change. I'm not sure why the setup of the work being unlike "your typical shounen anime or toku hero series" in any way invalidates the "do whatever it takes to protect your friends" moral. That seems easily transplantable among different settings.
• The Legend Of Korra.Tropes A to F: Wan physically separated humans and spirits because the groups couldn't coexist. Then expresses how the humans had to learn to live with each other. Not only is this contradictory but we know that the groups will eventually divide themselves into the four nations. When one nation tries to subvert this order the world will be thrown into a century long war. What exactly about "humans and spirit should mix" and "humans should coexist among themselves" are mutually exclusive as morals that the wording of this entry implies they are? Also, the fact people dividing themselves just sounds like conflict that we as an audience aren't supposed to agree with relative to the moral but need to drive a plot along — people forgot or ignored Wan's lesson? That sounds like the point.

Describes a problem, but doesn't sufficiently explain the intended aesop (10/50)

• Family Guy.Tropes A to C
  • "Family Gay," which manages to be incredibly homophobic while supposedly promoting gay rights. In fact, almost every episode with gay rights as the topic, since every gay character is presented as a stereotype, and yet, the episode centers on how they're people too and deserve the same rights as straight people. This entry doesn't explain with context why that is the moral the episode wants to make.
  • An episode meant as a vehicle for preaching the merits of legalizing marijuana ("Episode 420") is not the best place for constant stoner jokes. Especially bad after Brian's speech on how "productivity is skyrocketing and crime is miniscule" is right after a newscast in which the anchors were too stoned to even do their job and Peter was so stoned that, rather than set up a cutaway gag, he just gives off a list of celebrities he hates. This entry, meanwhile, doesn't explain why making stereotypical jokes actively makes the intended moral "clueless".
• Film.Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life: Because of television content standards, the most the movie can actually show of Justin's internet pornography addiction is him blankly staring at garden variety pictures of scantily-clad women, rather than him actively touching himself to any form of hardcore pornography - or, heck, any nudity at all. This in turn undermines the film's message, since if something that mild is all it takes for him to spin out of control it becomes questionable whether he either has psychological problems already or if his mother's extreme overreaction had something to do with it. Some viewers have suggested that Justin's real addiction is late-night voyeurism mixed with throwing back energy drinks, the latter of which is enough to do a number on any growing adolescent's overall well-being. It veers into being an outright Broken Aesop as well because, save for those caused by his energy drink addiction (which he could have acquired through binging on them during any regular activity), none of the problems the film blames on his pornography addiction are even indirectly caused by it - if anything, most of his issues are because of Monica's violent offense at him turning down sex with her, which is only tangentially linked to his addiction because she produced and hosts a website with some of the porn he watched (and which, naturally, raises far-worse implications regarding her life that the film happily ignores). This entry derails and meanders into complaining about three separate issues without properly explaining in context what the film's message even ostensibly is to begin with.
• Kingdom Hearts.Tropes A to D: The series in general seems to be torn between two conflicting cultural beliefs. Namely, it tries to adhere to both a Black-and-White Morality and a Balance Between Good and Evil. In this story, Light Is Good and Dark Is Evil as far as both aesthetics and characterization goes, but the lore professes that too much of either side (light included) is a bad thing. This confused narrative was inevitable, because the story itself is the brainchild of both a Western company built on children's cartoons heaped with strong Christian values, as well as an Eastern company whose stories typically carry a strong Buddhist bent. Thus, KH tries to be all over the map with its themes, which can be very confusing. The entry doesn't give a good contextual example for why these are the morals the series wants to preach and why they come into conflict, it instead feels the need to talk about real-world cultural differences.
• Literature.Gnomes: While going for a Green Aesop by contrasting gnome society with human, the fact that gnomes are a Superior Species stacks the deck. Sure, you can be In Harmony with Nature ... if you're born with immunity to most diseases, a magical ability to control your fertility and predict natural disasters, and fluency in animal languages, not to mention being so tiny that you can live in a house the size of a rabbit hole. Doesn't elaborate what the Green Aesop actually is.
• Music.Jewel: She tried to make a political song with "America", but her label forced her to change some of the lyrics, which ended up muddling the message. No attempt to assess or explain the message she was intent on delivering to begin with.
  We are getting tan in America
  We love Spam in America
  Polanski's banned from America
• Recap.Teen Titans S1 E4: "Forces of Nature": While Beast Boy's main problem in the episode is his refusal to apologize to Starfire when she accidentally falls afoul of his prank, it appears to rest on the secondary notion that Beast Boy pulling a prank at all is morally objectionable — hence the Monster of the Aesop trope below. Unfortunately, the episode fails to realize that by rights this should also include Cyborg's prank, which results in the story directly comparing Beast Boy's attempt to nail Cyborg with a glorified pie in the face to millions of dollars in wanton property destruction, while Cyborg's earlier prank, which resulted in long-term humiliation and mockery for Beast Boy, is by all appearances perfectly acceptable. The resulting moral appears to be something like "Pranks are bad if Beast Boy does them." This entry seems to be doing a lot of extrapolations for a moral that I'm not entirely convinced is there based on the setup — Beast Boy's refusal to apologize doesn't read as the proper narrative throughline to cap off a moral of "don't pull pranks on people".
• Recap.The Simpsons S7 E4 "Bart Sells His Soul": This is an incredibly ambiguous episode due to the fact that it refuses to make its point known. Sometimes, it’s a religious episode, while other times it's not. Sometimes the characters are depicted as The Woobie while other times they are jerkasses. It doesn’t even say definitively whether or not the soul exists.
• Series.Joan of Arcadia: Some episodes didn't seem to have much of a clear reason why God had Joan do something. Like joining the cosmetology class. Sure, Glynis learns to be herself, and Joan's dad stops a criminal, but they both did that on their own, and Joan didn't have anything to do with them.
• Series.Power Rangers S.P.D.: There was an anti-racism episode using discrimination against a Robot Girl as a metaphor. What's the problem? The fact that in the previous episode, she had done pretty much everything one possibly can to look suspicious, and put S.P.D. (and by extension, pretty much everything else) in serious danger by not telling anyone that it was her the bad guys wanted. So then we spend an episode where every single conversation or scene must have at least one line of Anvilicious hammering-in of the whole "We're racist bastards who distrusted her because she was a robot!" thing despite nothing of the sort having happened. Not only does this not clearly describe the anti-racism moral and how the allegory is displayed (as well as how it reeks of complaining), I'm not entirely sure the problem here is. If the narrative is supposed to be against discrimination and "racial" profiling, it sounds like the characters profiling the suspicious, but ultimately harmless robot and realizing they were in the wrong, thus learning their lesson, is EXACTLY what happened.
• Video Game.A New Beginning: General issue with the game's environmental message seems to be convoluted as plot twists occur. A major one being whether the attempt to sabotage nuclear energy, and later stopping it, was an acutal critique nuclear energy or a random plot point. Furthermore, the actual issues—such as fossil fuel industries and corporate corruption—took a backseat as the story progresses despite being shown in the game. Unspecific about the intended moral, and then proceeds to complain about broader design issues a la They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot.

Out-of-narrative and meta complaints (5/50)

• Film.Free Willy: The whole notion of freeing an animal who was forcefully taken out of his environment and separated from his family to live a life in captivity doesn't exactly work out too well when one remembers that this film was made possible by using an animal who actually was forcefully taken out of his environment and forced to live a life in captivity (although animatronics were used for scenes where Willy was actually in danger). Producers likely realised this as animatronic whales were used for the sequels. Also, releasing a captive animal to the wild is potentially dangerous because they haven't learned the necessary survival skills, and indeed, Willy's actor Keiko died several years after being released, never fully being free of human contact and assistance. While he could feed himself he always sought out humans and didn't join any nearby pods. The film does handwave this a bit early in the film when Rae says Willy was captured at "too old" of an age to be trained, implying he knows how to survive in the wild.
• Film.They Live!: The conspiracy is controlled entirely by a foreign race masked as natives, which makes it easy to see the film's message as more xenophobic than anti-consumerist. Neo-Nazis have latched onto this as vindication of their beliefs as to who's to blame for American sociopolitical corruption, much to John Carpenter's chagrin. '''Focuses more on later Misaimed Fandom despite it being a YMMV trope. Otherwise doesn't give enough explanation/context for why the moral itself is flawed or badly written.]]
• Literature.Clifford the Big Red Dog: A New Friend" introduces KC, a three-legged dog who Cleo fears at first but eventually grows to like. The intended Aesop was to be nice to disabled people, but a 2008 study found that Cleo's fear caused children to take the moral literally, saying that it was about being kind to three-legged dogs. On the contrary, an edited version where Cleo's fear was removed tested better with children, as they understood the moral. It's likely that the 11-minute runtime and usage of a dog in lieu of a disabled human made the execution wonky.
• Music.Lady Gaga: Whatever your feelings on both Lady Gaga and Don't Ask Don't Tell, it's hard to take the "Alejandro" video and already-infamous VMA meat dress seriously as critiques of the policy, as Gaga insists they function. Borders on being a non-sequitur of a sentence; I have no context for how these elements could possibly be connected.
• Western Animation.Barbie: Video Game Hero: The moral message of the movie is that you shouldn't let yourself feel confined to one path and think outside the box, and Barbie gains the means to basically code a whole new game from the inside, which leads her to victory. In real video games you do have to stay within the confines of whatever limits the programmers put in, and can't 'follow new paths' without cheating, glitching the game, or worse.

Justifying edits to discuss why it's not "clueless" (2/50)

• Recap.South Park S 19 E 5 Safe Space: Is the episode shaming people for wanting a break from negativity? Or is the lesson is that you should be careful about what you post online because you may invite negativity with what you post? The theme of the episode is that PC Principal tries fighting cyberbullying by making Butters filter out any negative comments. It escalates from Cartman to all sorts of celebrities who are too egotistical to take criticism or too thin-skinned to handle a bad comment they can just remove themselves. On one hand, people like Cartman should be more self-conscious about what they post and should just disable comment sections than just filter the good comments from the bad ones. On the other hand, safe spaces can be a relief to some people if they are in unfavorable positions on the internet. The lesson could also be about moderation; safe spaces can be healthy but you shouldn't use them as an excuse to abuse others or feed your own ego by avoiding constructive criticism. This entry was really hard to categorize, but I settled on this because I believe it's ultimately trying to argue on an intended aesop despite the entry itself being unsure.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S1 E10 "Swarm of the Century": Probably not entirely clueless, but as more than one viewer has noted, the aesop of this episode, if taken as the face value "you should listen to what your friends have to say instead of dismissing them", almost falls flat when one remembers that Pinkie Pie hardly ever actually tried explaining that she knows what parasprites are and how to get rid of them, giving up after one attempted explanation. In particular, Twilight specifically asks Pinkie if she knows anything about the Parasprites, only for Pinkie to mutter that she needs a trombone and leave without explanation. Considering all things, of course, this could more or less lead to a Double Aesop, as Pinkie pointing out at the end how she tried to tell them when they wouldn't listen makes it evident that she did learn the importance of explaining herself properly.

Narratively intentional (including In-universe discussion or spoofs) (4/50)

• Blog.The Island of Misfit Christmas Specials: Peter questions The Cabbage Patch Kids' First Christmas having a scene where the Kids sing that children shouldn't worry about their differences...to a girl who wears a leg brace, and presumably has mobility concerns that people shouldn't ignore.
• Literature.The Canterbury Tales: An in-universe example. The incredibly greedy Pardoner gives a story teaching the evils of greed. He even mentions how ironic this is. This also doesn't read as "clueless", just ironic.
• Series.The Goodies: Parodied in "Gender Education" with their Mary Whitehouse Expy-approved sex education film, which avoids any mention of anything related to sex:
  Narrator: This is a man. And this isn't.
• [1]: "Anyway, don't give your ferrets crack..." Note that it's clueless in that Rev quite literally spouted it at random. Though bordering on being a ZCE.
  "...where did that come from..."

ZCE (derisive complaining of an aesop devoid of further context) (14/50)

• Anime.Blue Submarine No. 6: Something about a cycle of revenge when the enemy really is Always Chaotic Evil (good or at least nice members are killed), are killing the remains of humanity, and is enjoying it greatly.
• Creator.Dakari-King Mykan: The fics try to teach lessons, in the loosest sense of the word, but he constantly contradicts his own Aesop time and time again.
• Fanfic.Dark Secrets: The fic tries to tackle weighty issues like rape, abuse and suicide, but the writing is nowhere near up to it.
• Film.October Baby: People who don't like their adoptive parents need to buck up and deal with it!
• Film.Reefer Madness: The movie failed so badly at its Aesop that it's used as a strawman by people lobbying to legalize marijuana. Though then again, it might not have been the best idea to start the film by giving detailed instructions on how to make and even smuggle joints.
• Saving Christmas: The first bullet point in particular can only make the film's moral sound "clueless" by comparing it to that of other works rather than itself.
  • Unlike most Christmas movies that say the rampant materialism is just an unfortunate side effect that sometimes overshadows the True Meaning of Christmas (being selfless and celebrating your fellow man in the name of Jesus), this film says being as selfish and as materialistic as possible is the true meaning because buying things is somehow the same as accepting Jesus.
  • From the (dubious) story of St. Nicholas and Arius: beating the holy hell out of someone is a reasonable resolution to a theological disagreement. Anything less is Political Correctness.
• Film.Sheena: As Sheena says, "Guns are bad!"; they kill people after all. Bows and spears, on the other hand, are good because... they also kill people? Needs more context, otherwise in my opinion sounds more like a Lost Aesop.
• Recap / Gravity Falls S2 E9 "The Love God" Thompson: It's better to constantly demean yourself to have friends who constantly laugh at your humiliation and discomfort than to not have friends at all, nor even to hold out for friends who'll treat you better. (Considering how many other kid's media argues against this same message...)
• Recap.Lazy Town S 1 E 30 Robbies Greatest Misses: Always believe your friends and apologize for doubting them, even if they do have a bad habit of crying wolf.
• Series.Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide: "Class Clowns"; while it is true that being amusing can lighten the tension in a school environment, the episode encourages the viewer to clown around even if it results in getting in trouble.
• The Loud House.Tropes C to D: "Heavy Meddle": If a kid of the opposite sex is bullying you, that just means they like you, even if the abuse causes you constant physical pain and humiliation.
• Video Game.Mega Girl: While the game is intended to have a pro-feminist theme, the abundance of very attractive and statuesque Robot Mistresses sort of mitigates it. This one's just weird on top of having no context to prove its point.
• Visual Novel.Higurashi: When They Cry: In Tsumihoroboshi, the moral can be seen as "Stick by your friends, even if they've brutally murdered some adults and are now attempting to blow up the school."
• Western Animation.Magic Gift of the Snowman: Oh boy. The special tries to teach kids that positive thinking and being happy will solve your problems away. While it's not a bad thing, pressuring this isn't going to make things better.

ZCE (other aesops) (4/50)

• Film.Anatomy of Hell: Apparently the moral of the story is that all men hate women, and that male homosexuality is an expression of this hate.
• Series.Punky Brewster: The Chicklets!
• Series.The Good Doctor: The episode "Influence", season 3 episode 14, tries to cover the issue of consent before for posting photos on social media, with an influencer asking Shaun about it, but doesn't tackle it well, because the genre's limitations prevent it from being explored fully. This almost fits in the correct criteria for the trope, but has the massive flaw of having no context as to what those genre limitations are and how it affected the delivery of the moral.
• Series.Today's Special: "Phil's Visit," mostly for the casting of Gerry Parkes (at the time, best known as the kindly Doc), and also for... well, for being an episode of "Today's Special," a perfect example of a show that's in way over it's head. Quoth Jodie, "Funny thing is, one hour ago, we all thought this was going to be one of the most exciting nights that we'd ever had in the store."

Unclassified Misuse/Other (5/50)

• Film.Christmas with the Kranks: Luther is a snobby jerk, but a jerk surrounded by lunatics who judge, pressure, and even extort him when the opportunity arises. This makes it very difficult to side against him, but his actions as things go on make it hard to root for him as well. There isn't even an attempt at explaining an aesop here, just complaining that characters are Unintentionally Unsympathetic.
• Manga.Kurogane Pukapuka Tai: The Holocaust is brought up in Chapter 10 but isn't treated with any sort of depth, being used more as a plot device than anything. Elsa's plotline does get a more serious treatment than most other characters though. No mentions of aesops or why they would be relevant.
• Series.BatesMotel: After Norman gets taken into a mental hospital, Norma asks others how she should take in the situation. Emma advises her to forget her son and focus on herself since Norman should grow up on his own. So apparently, Norma should have fun with her own life over worrying about her own son's mental health. This reads as just a character asking another character for advice, not a moral lesson one should impart to the viewer.
• Video Game.House of the Dead: "Remember, there's no such thing as a second chance". Also a Broken Aesop since this is said after Judgment's second chance, as well as Hypocritical Humor because of the fact that you can use continues. No context to prove it's even an "aesop" to begin with; it just sounds like a joke.
• Western Animation.Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures: The ending of "Ndovu's Last Journey," wherein the Quests decide not to reveal the location of the elephant graveyard. Because clearly the most pressing problem is humanity's greed for ivory, not that living elephants are being hunted and slaughtered for it. This effectively makes them indirectly responsible for every elephant killed by poachers afterward. No context given on if there was an aesop against elephant hunting to begin with.